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US Embassy and Consulates invests R8 million in UFS mountain-to-mountain research project

05 November 2020 | Story Thabo Kessah | Photo Thabo Kessah

Prof Mukwada_read more — Prof Geofrey Mukwada says funding from the US Embassy and Consulates in South Africa will reinforce the ARU mandate.

The University of the Free State (UFS) will further strengthen its ties with the Appalachian State University in the next two academic years through a mountain-to-mountain research project funded by the US Embassy and Consulates in South Africa.

The R8 million project between the UFS and the US institution will cover the two master’s degree programmes in underdeveloped niche areas, meteorological weather stations, leadership capacity building for black women in academia, and doctoral research projects. Qwaqwa Campus departments that will be involved are Physics, Geography, Community Development, and the ARU.

Talking about this collaboration, the project leader, Prof Geofrey Mukwada, said it would bring together researchers from both the UFS and Appalachian State University and enable them to work together to develop what is currently an underdeveloped research niche, i.e. mountain studies.

“This project will reinforce the mandate of the Afromontane Research Unit (ARU). It will provide the basis for a long-term development agenda through training and infrastructure development. For instance, the project will fund the implementation of two master’s degree programmes – the MSc in Mountain Environments and the MA in Community Development – which are long-term projects,” he said.

“It will also support innovation in climate change research. Through this project, it will be possible to receive climate data from weather stations that are situated in distant, isolated, and generally inaccessible locations without travelling to those locations. We will be able to understand how the climate of the region is changing and assist in developing adaptation measures and decisions that are applicable to agriculture, water, tourism, environment, and other sectors. This will enhance the capacity of the ARU to contribute to the development of research in mountain environments,” he added.

There will be a virtual launch of the project on Tuesday 10 November 2020 at 15:00 (CAT).

News Archive

New SRC elected on UFS main campus

2006-08-23

Ms Loraine Kriek, third-year student in B Consumer Sciences, was elected as SRC President of the Main Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS) for 2006/2007. Ms Kriek was a member of the Student Parliament in 2005/2006.

The most students in the history of the UFS – 6 353 in total – voted in this year’s election. There were only 44 spoiled votes. Last year 4 846 students voted.

“Other than last year, minor incidences of vandalism occurred on the Main Campus by students who were unhappy with the outcome,” said Dr Natie Luyt, Dean: Student Affairs at the UFS. According to Dr Luyt minor damage was caused to the Thakaneng Bridge and some other buildings on the Main Campus.

Kovsie Alliance obtained no proportional representation on the SRC, SASCO obtain 3 seats and the FF+Kovsies obtained 6 seats.

This representation gave Kovsie Alliance 1 seat, SASCO 14 seats and the FF+Kovsies 25 seats in the Student Parliament, which consists of 40 seats.

Nine of the 18 SRC members were directly elected and nine on the basis of proportional representation (PR). The PR system was introduced after amendments to the constitution of the Main Campus SRC were approved by the UFS Council in June 2005.

According to Dr Luyt elections on the Vista Campus will take place today (Wednesday 23 August 2006) and Thursday 24 August 2006. The results will be announced on Friday 25 August 2006. The SRC of the Qwaqwa Campus will be elected on Friday 25 August 2006. If there are no objections to the final results, it will be announced that same day.

The Central SRC, made up of representatives of the 3 campus SRCs, will be announced towards the end of September 2006.

Media release
Issued by: Lacea Loader
Media Representative
Tel: (051) 401-2584
Cell: 083 645 2454
E-mail: loaderl.stg@mail.uovs.ac.za
23 August 2006

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